School Starts!

Well, we got the kids off to school today. Everything went pretty smoothly. Up at 6:45, showers, breakfast, no TV (without too much complaining), teeth brushed, lunches made, and out the door. Timmy was pretty hesitant last night, but a little less so this morning. We got there early (7:45, school starts at 8:30) to help with a coffee time for parents, and a couple of his friends were there already, so when he saw them, he was fine. Emma was more excited. She had a little time of nervousness when she got to her room and there wasn't a good place to sit near some of her friends, but she sat next to a new girl (who was sitting alone) and I think that made her feel good. She likes to be the leader/introducer, so being able to do so with the new girl was good. I saw her a couple of times (previous to the sitting incident) leading new kids around and helping them find their classes ... right down her "mommy complex" alley!

Cyndie and I enjoyed the coffee time in the gym with lots of friends (who are parents). Good times. We were all ready to be back in the regularity of school. It was just another great example of why we love the small school. We were just all hanging out there, drinking coffee and having a good time. Not that that doesn't happen in bigger schools, but it's just a great community at Woods.

Now, back to work. Soccer starts tonight at 4:30!

Fun morning

Bragging for Emma today. We went out on the boat ... the four of us and Auntie Jane. We were very disappointed when we got up at 6 am ... first because it was still dark (I guess we haven't been getting up very early lately), and second because it was 15 - 20 mph winds. We decided to head over anyway, just to see what we would see. It was by no means perfect. On "our" side of the lake, the north shore, there were pretty big waves from the wind. We went across to the south shore and it was quite a bit better, though definitely not of the quality we're used to in the mornings. So we went. I wakeboarded and Cyndie skied, then Emma gave it a go. She had previously maxed out at about 20 or 30 seconds at a time. She wasn't having any problems getting up, but was, I think, getting scared when she thought she was going toward the wake, and so she'd just drop the rope. So I convinced her last night that she a) wasn't going to go out of the wake unless she tried to, and b) could turn herself just like she does when she snow skis. So, the first time, she dropped again after 20 seconds. I think she just forgot what we'd talked about. But after that, she was a champ. She stayed up for minutes, and only dropped under duress (wake from other boats knocking her down). She skied all over the lake, including making some big looping turns when we got to the end of the sheltered part of the lake and needed to go back. She even skied half the way back to the north shore where the water was starting to get really rough again! So while she was a "kind of" skier before, she is now official!!!